[Ads-l] Earliest True Acronym

[Jonathan Lighter]

Refreshing my own memory on the basis of Dave's post, the Morse operator
may simply have meant that "SNAFU" was a humorous concoction supplementing
the usual telegraphic code and not used in transmissions.

Not implausible.

JL

On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 8:11 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The "Telegraphic" connection reminds of the time in 1994 when a former
> telegraph operator assured me that he and others had idly and jocularly
> used "SNAFU" in Morse shortly before WW2.
>
> I've never been able to confirm this.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 7:59 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> ________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Sent: Thursday, December 2, 2010 2:32 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Earliest Acronym
>>
>> I apologize if someone else has already pointed this out, but Bill's
>> second citation below is very significant in that it may establish the
>> claim that SCOTUS is the earliest known acronym in the English language
>> (although, depending on the precise definition of "acronym," there are some
>> other abbreviations in the 1879 Phillips Telegraphic Code that may be tied
>> with SCOTUS for this honor).
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>> Mullins, Bill AMRDEC [Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL]
>> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 11:02 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Antedating SCOTUS (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>>
>> Walter P. Phillips _The Phillips Telegraphic Code for the Rapid
>> Transmission by Telegraph_ Wash, DC:  Gibson Brothers, 1879.
>>
>>
>> p. 59 col 2:
>> "Pot -- President of the."
>>
>> p. 65 col 2:
>> "Scotus -- Supreme Court of the United States"
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>> > Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 9:27 AM
>> > To: 'American Dialect Society'
>> > Subject: Antedating SCOTUS (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> >
>> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> > Caveats: NONE
>> >
>> > _Milwaukee [WI] Sentinel_ 12/6/1891, p 10 col 1 [Gale 19th Cent
>> newspapers]
>> >
>> > "For instance, the receiver's sounder will tick out the letters
>> "scotus."
>> > There is no meaning in this combination of letters, but the operator
>> gets a
>> > hustle upon himself as soon as he hears it and writes down, "the
>> Supreme court
>> > of the United states." "
>> >
>> > _Charlotte [NC] Observer_ 10/18/1892 p 1 col 4 [GenealogyBank]
>> >
>> > "The case then came to Scotus.  The case was argued last Tuesday."
>> >
>> >
>> > >
>> > > A slightly earlier cite is found at America's GenealogyBank.
>> > > 14 April 1895, _Birmingham(AL) Age-Herald_ 21/3
>> > >
>> > > Talking about the United Press "code" in use for about seven years
>> on the
>> > > telegraph-to-newspaper circuit.
>> > >
>> > > "In addition the more frequent phrases are skeletonized to the limit
>> of
>> > > safety.  "Scotus" is "supreme court of the United States;" "potus,"
>> > > "president of the United States;"
>> > >
>> > >
>> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> > Caveats: NONE
>> >
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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